Stargazers
by LittleAlbatross
Summary: I call this a "pre-union reunion". What if all it took was one memory to help forget the pain? Would you risk the universe? The Doctor would.
1. Rain

Rose sat in the small café eating chips and watching the falling rain outside make intricate patterns on the glass panel in front of her. She liked to watch the rain now, she'd been indifferent before, but now she felt connected to it. It was falling—falling from the sky above, and metaphorically speaking, so had she.

It had been over a year since she'd said goodbye to the Doctor at Bad Wolf Bay. Sometimes she went back there just to feel close to him. She'd stand there as the wind blew about her and imagine it was his warm embrace, rather than the harsh, cold reminder that she was completely alone. Well, not completely, she had her family—her mum and Pete, and her baby brother, not to mention Mickey constantly clinging to her. She smiled a bit remembering how she'd "imprinted on him like a mother hen". He didn't remember, he couldn't, but sometimes she had a feeling he sensed that connection he'd made when he was younger.

She frowned, however, when she remembered the events surrounding the encounter. That was one of the many times she'd "lost" the Doctor, and she hated reminders he wasn't there.

Even with her family by her side offering support, comfort, humor, and affection, she still felt empty. She sometimes caught herself looking at her hands and wondering why they felt so cold. She'd stare at the stars at night for hours and not even realize it until someone did something to bring her back to "reality". She'd even caught herself looking around frantically when she heard any sort of mechanical grating noise, only to find that it was a car engine that wouldn't turn over, or a box being drug against some metal, or some other mundane earthly annoyance.

She was silly for hoping, she knew she'd never feel the warmth of his hand again grabbing hers for no reason other than to feel that tactile comfort of her presence, the comfort she welcomed so whole heartedly. She knew that in all of those stars blinking back at her during the late hours of the night, none of them held her Doctor looking back. She knew that not once would she turn around and find that the noise she heard was the Tardis. But she'd keep hoping just like her tears would keep falling like the rain outside the window.


	2. Men

"Doctor, you're off your rocker! What happened to time paradoxes and messing up lives and changing timelines? Not to mention she'll know it's you!" shouted Donna.

"Donna, don't argue. Humans get all flustered and red and swollen looking when they argue. Trust me, it's not pretty. Besides she can't possibly know it's me. I've regenerated, plus I'm going back to a time BEFORE she met me. I'll just be a random stranger. A very strange stranger," the Doctor answered.

"A very strange snogging stranger," Donna replied.

"Donna, time lords don't 'snog', human teenagers do," the Doctor replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Blimey, and you don't think she'll figure it out later? I mean after she's met you? Well met you again…met you officially? When she knows it you…don't you think she'll…know it's you? Won't that be bad or something?"

"Donna, I'm sure whatever you just said has some sort of reasoning hiding somewhere in all that confusion and ambiguity, but I'm quite certain this will work."

"So you're gonna do it, and it's gonna work?"

"Correct-a-mundo," the Doctor said, and then grimaced as if he'd just thought of something terrible for the first time.

"What's wrong? Did you just realize that if you do this we'll all die or disappear or Rose will develop some fear of strangers and never get in the Tardis with you in the 'future' and then all those worlds and people you saved will all be dead and the entire universe will be altered because you thought you'd just pop in for afternoon tea or what?" Donna asked, starting to panic.

The Doctor looked up at her with an expression that was a mix between "what are you talking about?", "you're barking mad, you know that?" and even a little bit of "I find your enthusiasm wonderfully refreshing" and replied, "Oh, no, none of that…stuff. I just swore I'd never use that word again—correct-a-mundo. Oh, there I've gone again!" he said and smacked his hand down on the Tardis' console.

"Oh, sorry!" he said caressing the console after the Tardis shuddered in protest. Then he turned to his current companion and grinned ear to ear.

"Shall we?"

Donna just rolled her eyes and collapsed into the chair she had previously vacated in her rush to prevent the world from ending because the Doctor had a hankering for some chips and a blonde. _Men_, she thought.


	3. Umbrella

Rose was still looking out the window watching the world pass her by when she saw a couple laughing and kissing under an umbrella and suddenly recalled an event years in her past, something that hadn't crossed her mind in years and something she'd never told anyone about, not even the Doctor. Telling someone would only result in her becoming the butt of all jokes for being so cliché and besides, this man in her memories had been replaced so entirely that she wasn't even sure why she was remembering him….

"_Hello, I don't mean to bother you, you seem awfully busy doing all sorts of normal humany things, but I was wondering if you'd care to go right over there to that nice picnic I have set up and join me. You see, you're alone, and I'm alone and right now those little bitty tea sandwiches are alone, too. And nothing I've ever met in this entire universe enjoys being alone...well I guess I can think of a few things that do but they don't really count because they didn't actually have any form or…"_

"_Excuse me? But what are you rattlin' on about?" Rose asked, looking up from her book to see the possibly insane man standing in front of her. He appeared to be about 10 years her senior and was surprisingly good looking for a crazy person (a fact she was quite convinced of when she noticed he was holding an umbrella on the cloudless day), "You see, here I was just enjoying my novel and you come waltzin' up and ask me to not only walk over to that secluded little area with you where we'll be nice and "cozy", but also to eat the food you offer me? Where's your white van and candy? And didn't you forget the puppy?"_

"_First of all, I haven't "waltzed" for years, and secondly the way you put it sounds so much better than my boring ol' 'care to join me?' I thought you looked adventurous;, are you really gonna turn down the opportunity to have a picnic with a handsome stranger that you for some reason trust completely? Come on, Rose, live a little."_

_Rose looked from the man to his picnic and then back to the man. He was right. She did trust him—implicitly—and she had no idea why. She also didn't understand why she had this strong urge to reach out and hold his hand, and an even stronger urge to take him into her arms and never let go—ever. She looked back at the picnic again and smirked._

"_Alright, but watch your hands! I'm going to enjoy a picnic with a perfectly strange stranger, not a horribly strange perv, got it?" she said, fully aware that she was telling herself to watch her hands as much as she was telling him. She had a feeling that if he were to try anything, she wouldn't stop him and she'd even give him a run for his money. "And why do you have an umbrella?"_

"_Can't be too prepared when you're going on a picnic, can you? Anything could happen."_

_Rose had been too busy asking question about silly accessories that she didn't even think to ask how he'd known her name._


	4. Closer

The couple Rose had been watching walked away from the newsstand where they'd been, but were quickly replaced by another couple and another memory…

"_Do you believe in love at first sight?" Rose asked the strange man who no longer seemed a stranger._

"_Who says this is the first time we've seen each other?"_

"_Now, hold on cowboy, I didn't imply I loved you!" she replied as she softly slugged him in the shoulder, "I just want to know, theoretically, do you think it exists? Somewhere out there?" she asked, motioning to the stars above them and then turned toward the man she'd now spent the entire day and most of the night with. She was surprised to find how close they were standing together. She hadn't even noticed that their sides were pressed up against each other, it had felt so natural, and so when she turned, she'd practically ended up in his arms. _

_She reached out and played with his lapel and he reached out and grabbed her arms, just above her elbows, pulling her slightly closer and creating instantaneous tension. She spread her hands out over his chest and could swear she felt TWO heartbeats. Maybe she was just feeling her own pulse in her hands. Her heart was beating so quickly._

"_What's your name?" she whispered to his chest, "I don't even know your name…"_

"_John Smith," he replied. He was so close now she could feel his warm breath against her ear._

"_John Smith, this is the craziest thing I've ever done."_

"_Doubt it," he smirked, "But to what are you referring?" he questioned pulling back so he could look into her large hazel eyes._

"_This," she said. Then she reached up and cupped his face in her hands, drawing his mouth to her own. She'd expected to just give him a small kiss, a thank you of sorts for the wonderful day, but was completely surprised by his reaction, and doubly surprised by the fact that she responded in kind. _

_His hands wandered from her elbows to her waist and drew her closer to him. She allowed one hand to wander back to tangle itself in his soft hair while she rubbed his cheek with the thumb on her other hand. She could feel his hand wander under her shirt to caress the skin on her waist, and yet nothing about the kiss felt inappropriate or lustful, despite the fact that there was no air between their two bodies. It simply felt right. And for some strange reason, she felt like she'd been waiting for this kiss for a very long time. And not just a kiss this perfect, but a kiss from this man—any kiss from this man. It was a couple of minutes before they drew apart from each other, leaning their foreheads together and breathing in sync. _

"_Yes, Rose Tyler, I believe in love at first sight, and second sight, and third sight, and 700__th__ sight. And I also believe that even if the time you spend with the person you love is short, it doesn't mean you have to stop loving them, and it also doesn't mean you have to stop living. You can be fantastically alive even when they're not at your side, do you understand? Do you understand how important it is to keep living?" he said, suddenly passionate and cupping her face in his hands._

"_Not really," she laughed, and he answered her laugh with a soft smile, "but I don't _really_ understand anything that happened today." _

_He kissed her on the forehead then and drew her into a tight embrace. They just stood there for several moments before either of them spoke._

"_Will I ever see you again? I mean after tonight. I have this terrible feeling we'll never see each other again," Rose whispered into his chest._

"_Nah, you and me, we'll be fine. We're bound to see each other again, even the entire universe and all its rules can't stop us from seeing each other again, trust me," he replied and gazed at her intensely for several seconds, "And when we do, it'll be fantastic." And then he grinned. It was the widest smile Rose had ever seen in her 18 years of life. _


	5. Fantastic

"That smile!" Rose suddenly said to herself, not caring that half the people in the café had turned to watch her after her sudden outburst, "of course…" she said, reaching up to touch her lips. She smiled under her fingers. The man in her memories hadn't been replaced. Her love for him had simply grown. Rose smiled even wider when she realized the Doctor had come to see her in the past in the future—after they'd been separated—to let her know he cared. To let her know he loved her just as much as she loved him. He loved her enough to risk a time paradox or a rift-- he loved her enough to risk the entire universe. There was no other explanation for why he would have come to see her in the past in what was obviously his new regeneration. If she didn't know who he was, there was less of a risk. And it was while she was thinking of this new regeneration that she began to outright laugh. She turned to the person sitting at the table next to her who as of a few minutes ago had been watching her cry and was now carefully positioning himself between her and the young child he had sitting next to him.

"It was ginger!" she laughed.

"What was? Do you need help ma'am?" he replied, clearly wary of her erratic behavior.

"His hair! His hair was GINGER! And it was fantastic. I'm fantastic! We're all fantastic. Fantastically alive," she shouted and then jumped out her seat, dropped a fiver on the table, gave the terrified man a quick hug and ran out into the rain, splashing in puddles as she made her way home to see her ever-patient family.


	6. Stargazer

"Was it worth? I mean, is everything alright-- are you alright?" Donna asked the solemn Doctor who was standing outside the Tardis staring up at the stars and rubbing his hand in a contemplative manner.

He stood there for a few moments longer and then turned to Donna grinning.

"Yeah it was. And I'm fantastic. Fantastically alive," he said, and then wrapped his arm around Donna's shoulder, leading her back into the Tardis.

"Where to next? How about Barcelona? Not the city, the planet. You'll love it."

I hope you all enjoyed my little story. It's not my best, but I really wanted to write about a reunion, but not a true reunion. Very bittersweet and all that. Comment me, flame me, favorite me, ignore me, whatever--I'll still be fantastically alive.


End file.
